Numerous implementations of spray heads for fire fighting systems have been suggested in the patent literature.
For example, EP 1 413 333 discloses a spray head having nozzles of various dimensions arranged in a semi-sphere. According to EP 1 413 333 nozzles of relatively small dimensions are arranged to fight fire occurring at a relatively large radial distance from the spray head whereas larger, and more downwardly oriented nozzles, are arranged to fight fire below the spray head. The nozzles of relatively small dimension are cylindrical in shape, whereas the downwardly oriented nozzles have a cylindrically shaped initial section being in fluidic communication with an essentially conically shaped outlet section.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,474 discloses a spray head having angled outlet nozzles arranged in a sidewall portion of the spray head body. The nozzles suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,474 are angled to a centre axis of the spray head with an angle of up to 120 degrees. Each of the angled nozzles has a relatively narrow cylindrically shaped initial section being in fluidic communication with a broader cylindrically shaped outlet section. The spray head of U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,474 further comprises a number of downwardly oriented, and cylindrically shaped, outlet nozzles.
It is a disadvantage of the spray heads suggested in EP 1 413 333 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,474 that a uniform fluid distribution, and thereby an effective fire fighting system, cannot be achieved.
It is a further disadvantage of especially the spray head suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,474 that the amount of fluid downwardly directed is relatively reduced. Thus, the spray head suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,474 is less effective to fight fire immediately below the position of the spray head.
Finally, the spray heads suggested in the above-mentioned documents are rather limited in the sense that the fluid is distributed over a limited area around the spray heads. As a consequence, the number of required spray heads to establish an effective fire fighting system becomes unnecessary large, thereby increasing the costs of the fire fighting system unnecessary.
It may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a spray head that offers an effective fire extinguishing performance by ensuring uniform fire extinguishing around the spray head and when more spray heads are used increase the individual distance between the spray heads.